Comment

Aug 04, 2019mimsipod rated this title 5 out of 5 stars
I read this book many years ago as a much younger person, and as some other reviewers have said, I did not appreciate its darkness the way I have at this reading. It is a disturbing read in and of itself, but it particularly disturbed me now because so many of the things Orwell wrote about, that seemed so far-fetched years ago, are actually happening now - for instance the listening devices most people are subjected to, such as Smart TVs, Alexa, Siri and iPhones (don’t believe it? See Edmonton Journal, August 3/2019, page NP7). Then there the appalling things happening in the U.S.A. For instance, presidential rallies that are very similar to the Two Minutes Hate rallies, removal from government websites of scientific knowledge about pesticides and climate change, division of the world into three superpowers (China, Russia, U.S.A.?) and much more. George Orwell was a prescient writer and thoughtful people who follow world politics might find this a compelling and interesting read. But it won’t make you feel better, it will just give you more to think about.